Gaius plays Pokemon Go
by FlamingFlyingFoxOfDoom
Summary: Gaius wants to be cool with the kids, so he has Rowen teach him about a popular app called 'Pokemon Go'. ...Bad idea.


"Rowen" Gaius asked as his advisor walked into the throne room. When it was confirmed he had his elderly companion's attention, he continued "May I ask you about on-going events that I don't quite understand?"

"Of course, Your Majesty." Rowen said with a slight bow.

The dark king stood up, strolling over to the advisor with a purposeful stride. As the distance shortened, he became less and less at ease until a light pink graced his features. He cleared his throat and asked quickly "What is 'Pokemon Go'?"

Rowen bit down on his lip to stop himself from laughing. Despite his efforts, a short chuckle escape him "Pardon, sir?"

Gaius sighed, crossing his arms over his chest "I've heard stories that this… 'Pokemon Go' app has been encouraging youths to explore and socialize. From what I have gathered, it is very effective in this as well. I was think that perhaps, would I to …'get into' it, it would make me a more approachable king to the young people."

Rowen laughed "My king, you are speaking as if you are my age already."

"Rowen," he murmured "I know I'm not going to be young forever. Already I feel as if my citizens view me as an old man. And perhaps I am old, but I would still like to be credible to them."

"By playing Pokemon, my liege?" Rowen snickered. He straightened himself up and forced a (slightly mocking) professional demeanor "If that is what you insist. I shall create you a…Pokemon Go, account." He couldn't help but snicker near the end of his sentence.

Gaius allowed himself a quick snort of indignation then thanked him. And the old man was on it immediately, taking the King's phone and walking him through the set up of the game.

"So Gaius, what look would you like to go with?" Rowen asked

Gaius looked at him, completely baffled "Does it really matter? As long as I can partake in it…"

Rowen rolled his eyes and just went with what he thought suited the king best. When the trio of creatures appeared on screen, he once again asked Gaius his opinion on it. The king stared at the screen skeptically.

"So…I choose a creature companion?" he asked. Rowen nodded.

"Yes, Gaius. One of these three."

"I see. What kind of creatures are they?" he asked.

"Well, this one…"he pointed to theblue creature "Is called 'Squirtle'. He's a water-type pokemon."

"A water type?" Gaius blinked. He scrunched his face up "I see. So these… 'Pokehmahns' have different elemental attributes."

"Yes, sir."Rowen rolled his eyes.

"So are they similar to spirits?" Gaius frowned "I'm not sure if I can accept this game then, if it encourages the enslavement of spiritual entities-"

"They are not Spirits, King Gaius." Rowen interrupted before that train of thought led anywhere else. "They are simple creatures. Like the monsters in Xian Du."

"Oh. I see." Gaius frowned. "Very well. What about the other two?"

"This one" Rowen said, pointing to what looked like a walking cabbage "Is called 'Bulbasaur'. He's a grass-type." His finger moved over to the remaining one "And this is 'Charmander', a fire type."

"I see." Gaius said, studying the creatures intently. "Hmm… I feel partial to the… 'Charmander'." He poked at it on the screen to indicate it, when he recoiled as the creature supposedly approached the screen. "It responded!"

"Y-yes sir." Rowen snickered "By tapping it on the screen, you chose it as your first Pokemon."

"Oh." Gaius blinked "Why is it just standing there?"

"You have to throw a pokeball at it sir, to catch it." Rowen explained.

"So to tame the 'Pokehmahns' you throw things at them?" the king said, baffled. What strange creatures these truly were.

"Yes, Gaius." Rowen said, not being able to keep from smiling. "You throw the pokeball at it by swiping your finger across the screen."

"Like…this?" Gaius blinked, doing as instructed. The pokeball moved along with his fingertip, flying across the screen and hitting the Charmander on the head. The creature was promptly sucked into it. "What? Rowen, where did it go?" He demanded, apparently distressed at the creature's sudden disappearance.

"Into the pokeball, sir." Rowen laughed "Don't worry about it, it's fine. Here it is." He pulled up the Pokemon screen, pointing at the Charmander in the roster. Gaius relaxed.

"I see." He mused. "Now what?"

"Now you go out and catch more Pokemon." Rowen explained, handing the phone to the king. "They'll appear on the screen, and you repeat the process you just did with the Charmander."

"Understood." Gaius nodded. He blinked at he saw a neat little function "I can give it a… 'nickname'? What is that?"

"Just a name, King Gaius. 'Charmander' is the name of the species." Rowen explained.

"I see." Gaius hummed. He thought a moment then typed in the creature's new name, 'Hurik'. He then nodded, content with the name. "So now I go search for other creatures, correct?"

"Yessir." Rowen said. He waved to the king as he left the room, eyes locked on his screen as he tried to wrap his mind around the world of Pokemon. After the dark man left his line of sight, Rowen stroked at his beard "Hmm….Perhaps I should have told him about the AR function?" he thought a moment, then chuckled "Then again, perhaps it'd be better for him to figure it out by himself."

Rowen you troll.

Anyway, Gaius left his castle in search for more Pokemon. And his plan to win over younger citizens seemed to work incredibly well, as he received smiles and waves from his younger citizens who were also out and about with their phones. Gaius pretended he knew what he was doing and was doing a pretty good job of it. That was, until he came across a small girl and her strange stuffed animal.

"Hi, Gaius!" Elize chirped, skipping up to him with her phone in her hands.

"HHHIIIIII, KINGY!" Teepo sang.

"Hello Elize, Teepo." The king greeted them. He eyed the small girl "Would you perhaps be playing 'Pokehmahn Go'?"

"Yep!" Elize chirped. Teepo's eyes widened.

"Why, are YOU?"

Gaius nodded "Yes, actually. However I fear I don't quite understand it." he knelt down to show the girl his phone's screen "There is a creature right there, but I'm afraid I might not have understood Rowen's instructions as well as I might've thought."

"Oh neat!" Elize's eyes lit up "There's an Eevee right there! Hold up, I'll show you. First you just tap on it, like this." She did so on her phone and Gaius mimicked on his. The 'Eevee' appeared in front of him on the ground. Elize checked on him and then nodded "And then you just throw the pokeball, like this." She, once again, showed him how and awaited him to mimick. He did and in doing so, caught the Eevee.

"Oh. Thank you, Elize." He said with a polite nod.

"Sure thing, Kingy!" Teepo grinned, bouncing up and down.

"No problem!" Elize chirped.

"If you don't mind…" Gaius frowned "Can you tell me what….'type' this creature is?"

"It's a normal type!" Elize said.

"A normal type?" Gaius repeated, looking into the eyes of this smiling little…ferret thing. He nodded, and quickly dubbed it 'Kemen'.

"Oh, you're one of those!" Elize observed.

"One of…those?" Gaius blinked, confused.

"Yeah, one of those people who name all their pokemon!" Teepo clarified.

Gaius nodded "Of course. It wouldn't do to just call them by their species, would it?"

Elize's eyes widened and darted back to her phone "I never thought of that…" She frantically began to assign names to her Pokemon.

"We're hooorrribbbblleeeee!" Teepo whined, deflating slightly.

Gaius patted the strange….Teepo's head "It's all right. You didn't know any better."

"Thanks Gaius!" Elize sniffed, looking up from naming her CP 2048 Gengar 'Candy'.

"Not a problem." Gaius nodded. He stood as the girl frantically named all of her Pokemon when his phone vibrated. Confused, he looked at it and saw a large, Orange-and-Black striped dog of sorts in his area. Repeating the process in his mind, he tapped the animal and it zoomed up. Baring its teeth. His eyes narrowed as it disappeared into the ground and he searched frantically for it. Only to find it was behind Elize.

He quickly jumped into action, grabbing the poor girl and throwing her behind him as the beast lunged.

"Ack- Gaius!" Elize yelped.

"Woah! What the heck!" Teepo snapped.

The king drew his sword, holding it in one hand as he frantically tried to keep the creature in sight through the camera of his phone.

"It's hostile." He stated bluntly.

"What- What's hostile?" Elize asked, peering around him.

"I don't believe you can see it, Elize." Gaius growled.

"It's invisible!?" Teepo gasped.

"Oh no!" Elize shrieked, very much unable to see the taller man glaring at his phone from her perspective.

"Go get Rowen." He ordered.

"G-got it!" Elize stammered, sprinting off.

"We'll be back as quick as we can, Gaius!" Teepo called, tumbling mid-air after the girl as she fled.

Gaius attempted to engage the creature in combat only to see his phone inform him that it had fled while he was distracted. Baring his teeth, he began to pursue the creature. Jumping over civilians, snow banks and various other obstacles. Frantically trying to find this threat to his people. The small bar that he could only describe as some sort of tracker showed the creature was further then he'd like.

This wouldn't stop him. This canine not only showed obvious aggression, but clearly just attempted to attack his friend. It would be stopped!

It wasn't long until he had run into other friends of his. Or, rather, Leia tackled him into the snow.

"Woah, what's the rush?" Alvin blinked.

"I'm chasing something!" Gaius explained hastily. "And incredibly hostile creature. It tried to attack Elize earlier."

"Oh damn!" Leia gasped "Is she okay!?"

Gaius nodded "I got to her just in time, but the thing escaped-"

"Then go after it!" Leia snapped. She turned to Alvin "Come on, we're going to look for it too!"

"What-" Alvin blinked "Leia, I think-"

"NO TIME!" Leia howled, grabbing Alvin's arm and dragging him off in the opposite direction "Don't worry Gaius, we're on it!"

Gaius nodded, waved them off and continued his search.

Alvin looked annoyed. And for a moment, considered telling Leia that Gaius was probably misunderstanding Pokemon Go. But….then….He decided this was a lot more interesting than the shopping trip Leia originally had planned.

He shrugged and went along with it.

Gaius's chase led him outside of Kanbalar into the cold and barren stretches of the Mon Highlands. His feet sunk deep into the snow for only a split second before being ripped out and to throw the pesky white stuff behind him. The tracker only show the creature getting further and further away.

So preoccupied with chasing the creature, he didn't notice the smaller, white-clad man in his way. Who was also too preoccupied staring at something to notice him. Evidentially, they collided and snow and papers went everywhere.

"Ow-!" the newcomer snapped, rubbing at their head. He blinked his bronze-colored eyes at his assailant "Gaius-? What are you doing?"

"I apologize, Jude, but there's something I have to do right now-!" The king hastily explained, quickly getting to his feet and beginning to sprint off.

"What- Gaius, what are you chasing after?" Jude asked.

"A large, dog-like creature." Gaius described his target "It attacked Elize earlier, and-"

"Wait." Jude interrupted, holding up his hand. He then pointed to the King's phone "Are you playing Pokemon Go?"

Gaius nodded "This application alerted me to the creature's presence-"

"Gaius, it isn't real." Jude said bluntly.

Gaius stared, a light shade of pink tinting his cheeks "…Pardon?"

"Pokemon are fake little creatures, they aren't real." Jude explained.

"But I saw it…" Gaius muttered.

Jude nodded "Yeah. It's a feature in the game. They make it look like the Pokemon are actually there to make it more immersive, but they aren't actually. It's just a neat little trick."

"Oh." Gaius coughed into his fist and sheathed his sword "I see." He crossed his arms over his chest "I apologize for that mishap, Jude."

Jude laughed "Oh, don't worry about it. A lot of people from Rieze Maxia have already made that mistake."

"I see. Thank you for the reassurance….Although" his eyes darted to the side and his face turned even more pink "I'd appreciate it if you didn't….tell anyone about this."

"Of course." Jude smiled, beginning to gather up his scattered papers. Gaius thanked him again, and helped him in his little chore. Suddenly, he seemed remorseful.

"Er…Jude, may I ask your help with something else?"

"Like what?" Jude blinked.

Gaius coughed into his fist, embarrassed "I'm afraid I quite frightened Elize and Leia earlier…"

Jude snorted, rolled his eyes, and rubbed his fingers against his temple "Ah. I see." He smiled, if not a bit awkwardly "Yeah, we should probably go tell them that was a mistake."

And that is the story of how King Gaius valiantly hunted down an invisible foe, only to somehow become a meme to his closest companions.


End file.
